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Creamy Pumpkin Steel-Cut Oats ♥

October 5, 2015

The season's first pumpkin recipe! Let's start the day off right with healthy pumpkin oatmeal, okay? Here, a blend of steel-cut and old-fashioned oats are cooked with pumpkin and banana, an all-natural sweetener. Make a big batch on the weekend, then just rewarm for fast, healthy breakfasts during the week.

Seasonal eating is a mindset. Take pumpkin, take peaches. Sure, I "can" make something with pumpkin in the summer but, really, it doesn't call to me, not when the peaches are drippy-ripe. But then again, sure, I "could" freeze summer's best peaches for the winter but, really, well, I just don't. As a seasonal eater, I'm quite content that pumpkin is a fall thing and peaches are a summer thing. (Hmm, am I allowed one exception? That would be my forever-favorite recipe for Autumn Pumpkin Bread.)

This year, I'm giving extra attention to a handful of extra-favorite recipes that, with seasonal adjustments, can become year-round recipes. Almost-Chewy Creamy Oatmeal is one of them. It's a blend of steel-cut and old-fashioned oats cooked on the stovetop with milk and water. For almost two years now, it's been a breakfast staple, easy to make ahead, inexpensive to make, healthy to eat. Honestly? We love it.

But variety is good, yes?! This pumpkin version for fall is just as good, just as inexpensive but still helps mark the change of seasons, one more reason to work pumpkin onto the menu for these few weeks of pumpkin time. Thanks to the banana, it's slightly sweeter than the original oatmeal but in turn, it has fewer calories because it's bulked up with virtually calorie-free pumpkin.

In a heavy saucepan that’s big enough for stirring and for the volume to more than double, bring the oats, milk, 1 cup water, pumpkin pie spice, salt, pumpkin and banana to a boil on medium-high heat, stirring occasionally.

Once it comes to a boil – there will be big sloppy bubbles – stir continuously with a silicone spatula, mashing the banana and scraping the sides of the saucepan often, until the oats absorb all the liquid, this takes about 5 minutes. If using steel-cut oats, cook the oatmeal for another 5 minutes, stirring continuously, until the denser steel-cut oat pieces soften but retain some chewiness.

After five minutes, if the steel-cut oats aren't done, add more liquid and continue to cook until they finish. You can also add liquid just to loosen the oats to your liking, they really absorb an amazing amount of liquid.

To serve, scoop into a bowl and top with chopped banana, a few pecans and a drizzle of maple syrup.

ALANNA's TIPS & KITCHEN NOTES DOUBLE BATCH I always make a double batch, then we have it for breakfast three or four times over a week or so. HOMEMADE PUMPKIN PIE SPICE I love my DIY spice blend, it's here with the recipe for Baked Pumpkin Donuts & Donut Holes.

1 comments:

Yup, I'm ready for pumpkin. We had a spectacular pumpkin ravioli in Boston a couple of weeks ago. I need to make it. But first, some pumpkin oatmeal. :-)

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